In part I of this series, the new data fields that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) seeks to collect for more HMDA reporting transparency and timeliness and concerns about potential misinterpretation of newly collected data was addressed.

To wrap-up, we will consider the known and unknown factors related to this regulatory change and conclude with a list of key tips you can use to prepare your credit union for these pending changes.

Imminent Compliance and Technology Challenges Are Clear

Although most industry observers expect issuance of the final regulation sometime in 2015, we don’t yet know which specific data fields will be included, nor the amount of time institutions will have to prepare before the requirements go into effect. We also do not know if or how much of any additional data collected will be made public by the regulators.

Protecting the privacy of personally identifiable financial information should be a priority. The inclusion of items such as credit scores, borrower age, and other personal data may raise legitimate privacy concerns, particularly if it becomes possible to identify a specific consumer by combining the new data with other publicly available data.

Despite the unknowns, one thing is certain: the extent and breadth of the proposed new data collection fields will be considerable. They will impose significant regulatory compliance and information technology challenges on mortgage lenders.

How Your Credit Union Can Prepare

Whatever requirements are ultimately adopted, lenders will need to evaluate their current data collection capabilities, identify gaps, and make needed investments to be compliant. What impact will this have for your credit union’s staffing decisions, training, vendor support, and technology infrastructure—and how can you begin to prepare for these changes?

While the specifics have not yet been announced, you needn’t wait before initiating some preparatory action:

Plan now for the increased data capture requirements and remember that data integrity is essential
The changes coming will be sweeping and broad, impacting your organization in many ways. Minimally, these changes will include all new data fields outlined in the Dodd-Frank legislation—and likely, many if not all of the CFPB’s additional proposed data fields—so make sure your preparation is underway.

Identify all lines of business impacted by the HMDA changes
Determine how you will organize these lines of business so that your efforts are coordinated. Ensure that all individuals responsible for implementation are connected and developing a plan of action so your organization is as ready as it can be once the final rules are announced.

Identify and prepare for any needed staff training
Determine what your enterprise methodology and approach will be to manage the implementation. It’s never too early to start planning when it comes to staff training.

Strengthen and bolster your analytics capabilities
The last thing you want is to submit data to the government that you haven’t already fully analyzed. Given resource constraints, lenders might be best served in outsourcing their data analytics needs to a capable vendor. But, whether you manage this function internally or through a third party, know the implications of that data for your organization—and how you plan to go about addressing any problems found in the analysis. You don’t want others analyzing and interpreting your findings in advance of conducting your own comprehensive review.

Conduct a root cause analysis on questionable cases
If your analyses uncover indicators of potential disparate treatment or impact of protected classes, conduct a root cause analysis to determine the extent of the problem and what is causing it. Then fix it.

Accept the fact that whatever implementation timeline is ultimately defined, the transition time for managing a regulatory change of this magnitude can never really be sufficient. But with some thoughtful and concerted advance preparation, you will be best positioned to ease some of the challenges in transitioning effectively to the new requirements.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for consumer and member business lending and deposit services. For more information on Wolters Kluwer’s products and services, visit http://www.nafcu.org/wolterskluwer/

In 2015, expectations loom large for lenders around finalization of rules for the new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data collection requirements.

Created as part of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), the regulation authorizes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to expand the current HMDA dataset in order to help “financial regulators and public officials keep a watchful eye on emerging trends and problem areas in the mortgage market.”

CFPB Seeks More Data Transparency and Timeliness

The proposed changes include required reporting of 37 new data fields, including 20 not currently required under Dodd-Frank. Those 20 fields represent additional information that the CFPB proposes to collect for analytical purposes, including:

Detailed property location information

Total points and fees

Rate spread for all loans

Information on loan features such as teasers and introductory rates, and

Applicant’s age and credit score

In addition, the CFPB proposes to collect data such as:

Borrower’s debt-to-income ratio

Combined loan-to-value ratio

Loan’s qualified mortgage status, and

Inclusion of manufactured housing in collateral

When the CFPB proposed the expanded HMDA data collection specifications in the summer of 2014, it argued for the need for greater transparency and timely access to regulate lending activity, citing concerns that “under the current regime, HMDA data may be reported as many as 14 months after final action is taken on an application or loan.”

Consequently, for financial institutions reporting at least 75,000 covered loans per year, which accounts for the vast majority of loan application registrations in the annual HMDA files, the new rules would require submission of HMDA data on a quarterly rather than annual basis. The CFPB estimates that this specific reporting provision would impact about 28 financial institutions that combined would report about 50% of all HMDA-reported transactions.

Potential for Data Misinterpretation Causes Concern for Many

The regulatory landscape changed dramatically with the 1975 enactment of HMDA and then again with the passage of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”). The latest proposed regulatory changes may have an equal or greater impact on institutions affected by the proposal. This observation is borne out in the anxiety over the new data reporting requirements evident in the October 2014 Regulatory & Risk Management Indicator report, conducted by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

According to the report, U.S. credit unions and banks specifically point to the Dodd-Frank Act and the associated HMDA data collection requirements as among their chief concerns. The new data collected will unleash a flood of additional public scrutiny of mortgage lending. And that development, by extension, will likely generate a new level of criticism of the mortgage industry, including credit unions, from those interpreting the newly available data.

It is clear from its recent enforcement actions and guidance that the CFPB holds accurate HMDA data as central to fair lending compliance and its ability to enforce fair lending laws. Inaccurate HMDA data will only serve to mislead the public and will not be tolerated. That said, the additional data, however accurately reported, will be an insufficient basis on which to ground definitive conclusions about discrimination on a prohibited basis. But, the data will generate more room for error as it gets interpreted – or misinterpreted – by regulators, analysts, and the public.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series to get additional insights about HMDA compliance and technology challenges and a list of key tips you can use to help prepare your credit union for these changes. Get a sneak peak of the tips by watching Tim Burniston, Executive VP at Wolters Kluwer highlight the HMDA changes in the short video,New HMDA Fields Coming – Are You Ready?

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is NAFCU Services Preferred Partner for consumer and member business lending and deposit services. For more information on Wolters Kluwer’s products and services, visit http://www.nafcu.org/wolterskluwer/